games-convention posts

A new game event devoted to online game titles has apparently hit a snag. Organizers of Games Convention Online have announced that the event, which launched in 2009, will now be a trade event only with no access to the general public. According to a press release the number of pre-registered tickets was not enough to support a public event. The show has also eliminated its plans for a fourth day of event; it will now be held from July 8-10 in Leipzig, Germany

When Games Convention Online launched last August the event brought in over 43,000 attendees, which is a solid number in most regards. Event organizers claims that this year's show will be bigger than 2009 with over 30 companies already registered as attending.

A few months ago, the first edition of the new Games Convention Online in Leipzig, Germany brought in over 43,000 attendees. That was a lot more than expected, especially since the event had no major game publishers attending and concentrated on the online and MMO game market.

This week the event's organizers announced that the 2010 version of Games Convention Online will be held from July 8-11. This is about three weeks earlier compared to the 2009 event. Also an extra day has been added to this year's convention "to give business customers more scope and time to initiate and conclude business deals." Will the convention grow even larger for its sophomore year? Maybe.

Last year, the Leipzig Games Convention was boasting of having over 200,000 attendees who came to the single largest games convention in the world. However things are a little different this year for the event. With the major players of the games industry in Europe now putting their support to the new gamescom event in Cologue next month, the Leipzig event opens up today with an emphasis on online and MMO games.

Even with the changes and the fact that the event lacks the big boys in terms of exhibitors, the revamped Games Convention Online claims it expects to see 50,000 attendees at the event. We suspect that number is a tad optimistic but if they can achieve that number it will still be more people than this year's this year's E3 (which had about 40,000 attendees). The new Games Convention Online runs until Sunday, August 2.

Last month the Leipzig Games Convention was held in Germany and organizers boasted of 203,000 attendees. While the future of the Leipzig event is in question due to 2009's launch of GAMEScon in Cologne, Games Convention organizers have already announced they are thinking of moving to the North American market.

Now comes work via Gamekyo that the first such event might not happen in the United States but our neighbor to the north. According to a statement they received from Games Convention, "'We'll decide about the place of the new event in cooperation with the games industry. It seems to become a city in Canada, not in the US." Certainly the US is pretty full at the moment with events like GDC, E3, Penny Arcade Expo and E For All Expo, not to mention large events like CES and San Diego Comic-Con which have games as part of their exhibits.

It's all over in Germany but the organizers of the just completed 2008 Leipzig Game Convention are bragging about their attendance numbers. The event brought in a total of 203,000 people over the five day event last week, according to a press release from the convention.

Dates for the 2009 Leipzig Games Convention are already set; it will be held in its traditional time period of August 19-23. The press release claims that the vast majority of the games industry want the convention to stay in Leipzig. That's interesting considering that the industry consortium BIU voted last year not to back the Leipzig convention in favor of a new 2009 event, GAMEScon, in the larger city of Cologne. It should be interesting to see which event wins out. In the meantime Games Convention organizers are holding their second annual Asia event next month and they strongly hinted at plans for a US based event, stating, "After the Southeast Asian Games Convention, we are now focusing on the North American market."